Pardon me if I don’t wear a black armband, fly the flag at half-staff or break out a bottle of California sparkling wine.

(I would have said champagne, but President Trump is encouraging consumers and producers to think American first. Since the only wine that can legally be called champagne must be from France, that means for the time being champagne celebrations are out of the question.)

Former Congressman Joe Scarborough (R–MSDNC) has announced he’s leaving the Republican Party. This brings to mind two questions: One, does "Morning Joe" really think anyone in the audience is surprised?

And two, why would he think anyone cares?

When Scarborough first announced his decision on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" initially it sounded like a cheap applause line to get a laugh from Colbert’s rabidly leftist audience.

Turns out it was a cheap applause line, but it was also true. Joe’s self-important announcement is just another installment in bad breakup that for speed and nastiness rivals that of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

Only this time it was the "bromance" between "Morning Joe" and candidate Donald Trump.

Just last year the relationship seemed destined to go down in history alongside Romeo and Juliet; Wormtongue and King Theoden; and Brad and Angelina.

Then like each of the foregoing duos, rocky shoals appeared.

The New York Times had an interesting rundown of the high points. At the beginning of the Republican presidential primary "Morning Joe" was routinely criticized by other media outlets for his closeness to candidate Trump.

Scarborough let him phone in regularly and for a time it was Butch and Sundance. Few took Trump seriously at the beginning and he was great for "Morning Joe" ratings.

Scarborough heaped praise on Trump and "initially declined to rule out running as his vice president." Joe also admitted to passing along political advice during the primary. As the Trump campaign became real, rival media outlets — no doubt due to jealousy — began to ramp up the attacks on the relationship.

That, combined with the leftist hothouse that MSDNC is, worked on Scarborough like gossip-mongers in Hollywood. In May 2016 Joe opined that "he did not think Trump had what it took to win the election" and the slide downhill began.

It was rocky all during the campaign and then there was a brief reconciliation after Trump won. But that didn’t last long either.

Now it’s obvious Trump and the GOP aren’t splitting and I don’t think Joe wanted to risk presenting the Republican National Committee with a "him or me" ultimatum, so he left and didn’t even request joint custody of the ideology.

Scarborough claims he’s now an "independent" and maybe that’s true. But somehow I get the feeling he’s "independent" like CNN is "unbiased."

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.